Tax rules do not treat income equally

Anyone who has completed their own tax return will know the tax office treats different types of income differently.

Bank interest is recorded in one section, dividends from shares in another and managed fund distributions somewhere else.

And unless you are taking a pension or lump sum from your super, you don’t need to include your earnings on those funds at all.

Returns from investing in shares and property – in particular – come with some real tax benefits. The trick is to make sure you take advantage of them.

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Understand the rules

The most common tax benefits are:

• Franked dividends from Australian shares – these represent a tax credit of up to 30 percent for tax already paid by the company. But beware, if your franking credit entitlement is more than $5000 the shares must have been held for at least 45 days.

• A 50 percent discount on the capital gain made from the sale of a personally held asset. Superannuation funds can qualify for a one-third discount. But this only applies where the asset has been held for at least 12 months.

• Capital losses can be offset against capital gains and the net gain is only payable when the asset is sold. The tax can be deferred for a long time.

Choose who owns assets

The best tax outcome can be achieved with a low-income earner holding investment assets.

They could earn up to $20,542 tax-free, receive a refund of all imputation credits and pay less tax on capital gains.

For instance, if an investor on the top marginal tax rate of 47 percent had a $100,000 capital gain they would pay $23,500 in tax and Medicare.

If an investor with no other income had a $100,000 capital gain they would pay $8797 – a saving of $14,703.

Choose the structure

Superannuation funds have the most generous tax arrangements.

If you manage a share portfolio in a super fund, capital gains will be taxed at 10 percent or 15 percent, whereas if you held them privately they would be taxed up to 23.5 percent or 47 percent.

Imputation credits are especially valuable in a super fund because the fund pays a flat 15 percent tax and the 30 percent tax credit can be used to offset tax on other income.

Be smart about timing

The 45-day and 12-month rules are obviously important to maximise tax benefits.

Capital gains are only incurred when an asset is sold and capital gains tax, CGT, can be deferred indefinitely.

An investment asset can be passed through your estate to future generations and no CGT would be payable.